CHP ARRESTS MAN SOUGHT IN CONVICT'S DEATH.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Daily News Staff Writer

A routine traffic stop led to the arrest of a man wanted for questioning in a grisly killing in San Bernardino County, the California Highway Patrol reported Wednesday.

Mario Portillo was awaiting transfer to San Bernardino on an arrest warrant in connection with the death of a a registered sex offender whose remains were found March 30 in remote Phelan. Bail is $1 million.

Portillo, 37, was a passenger in a sports car that CHP Officer Steve Cortes stopped Tuesday night on the Antelope Valley Freeway in Canyon Country because it had no front license plate and the registration was expired, according to CHP spokesman Doug Sweeney.

Cortes said he smelled liquor in the car and cited the driver. Cortes said the passenger gave a false name and did not provide identification.

Cortes and his partner arrested the passenger, who gave his true name as Portillo during the trip to the Santa Clarita Valley sheriff's station and also told the officers he was wanted in the Phelan case, Sweeney said.

Sgt. Floyd Gilbreth, a homicide detective in the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, said Portillo is wanted for questioning in the death of Alfonso Carillo.

Portillo was the last person known to have driven the victim's car, Gilbreth said.

Portillo faces an auto-theft charge with unusually high bail to ensure he will be held for questioning in Carillo's death, Gilbreth said.

Prison dental records were used to identify Carillo's remains. His decomposing head was left by dogs in the front yard of a home in Phelan. Other remains and clothing were found in a shallow grave about 400 feet away.